New Delhi, Delhi, India:  SHYAMAL GHOSH
India has not yet reached the take off stage as far as the telecom sector is concerned and certain stability has to be brought about by following a holistic approach for the best interest of the economy and the country.

This was stated by Mr Shyamal Ghosh, Chairman, Telecom Commission and Secretary, DoT, while delivering his special address at the Fourth Telecom Summit 2002, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.

The telecom sector, Mr Ghosh elaborated, should be reviewed in totality and both the government along and the industry should undertake the long journey to move forward in targeting a growth rate and make India an IT super power by 2008.

According to Mr Ghosh, the government with the help of private partnership must set the stage for a huge innovative market with low tariffs rate which would not only increase the use of the telecom service and but also make up for the thin profit margins of the major players. Major issues should be solved in a prompt and transparent manner by integrating the various forces at work, he added.

The main factors hindering the growth of this sector is the inability to provide free and open service because of various security and environmental reasons, Mr Ghosh said.

Mr M S Verma, Chairperson, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, said that the Indian telecom sector has to reach a stage of maturity where there is enough space for the competitors in the market place. When such a market exists, the role of the regulator would diminish.

Underlying that the main objective of TRAI is to demonstrate independence by establishing due process of transparency and acting as a surrogate for competitors, Mr Verma said that to bring about a balance on many fronts such as technology, tariff and service at the same time is the biggest challenge for the telecom sector today.

It is difficult to arrive at a decision in the absence of organised and systematic data as there are no sources available on which one can base projections for the future. Moreover, a choice has to be made between ideal and practical issues and also between consumer good and public good, the Chairperson added.

Delivering his address, Mr Kishore A Chaukar, Managing Director, Tata Industries Ltd said that the regulators, players and consumers have to sit together and arrive at a decision for a low quantum, low cost and improved service mechanism of the telecom sector.

Urging the major players of the industry to share the infrastructural framework instead of duplicating it, Mr Chaukar said one should not go by the profit margin alone and that investments should be made in distant places where telecom facility is required.

He also said that while the government has taken policy decisions on major issues, it has not yet followed it up with measures to create a level playing field.

Reiterating the need for long term funding in the telecom infrastructure, Mr Chaukar said that strategic changes should be brought about to respond to the need of the consumers, service providers and investors of the telecom sector.

Identifying the various issues hindering the growth of this sector, Mr Sanjeev Nikore, VSAT Association of India, said that an absence of an open sky policy has restricted the number of competitors entering the field.

Mr Arun Khanna, President, Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association, said that the industry and the government and the industry together need to address the issues in the post WTO regime. He also urged the government to adopt a policy on electronic hardware scheme to give a boost to the export reforms.

The procedure for internet operation is rather long and expensive which in turn leads to inconvenience and unequal balance in the industry, said Mr Siddarth Ray, President, Internet Service Providers Association of India.

Mr Manoj Kohli, Vice Chairman, Cellular Operators Association of India said that the telecom sector should attain maturity where the foreign investors are confident of investing in the country.

Dr D P S Seth, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited said that the targets set in the New Telecom Policy 1999 would be difficult to achieve. This is because while the telecom sector has shown an impressive growth, other sectors like power which are pre-requisite for the development of the telecom sector, have lagged behind.

Dr Seth also reiterated that private participation in the telecom sector is essential as the government funding in the sector is not sufficient for the industry to grow.

Mr Rajiv Mehrotra, President, Association of Basic Telecom Operators, said that a single tariff regime must be brought about and inter-service provider should be exempted from custom and excise duty. Rural penetration should become the main objective for the telecom sector to achieve a sustainable growth rate, he added.

Earlier, Mr S Ramakrishnan, Chairman, CII National Committee on Communications and Managing Director, Tata Teleservices Limited in the welcome address said that the government initiatives are blurring the distinction between public and private sector.

Mr Sunil Mittal, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharti Enterprises, while delivering the vote of thanks, said that the regulators, licenseing authorities, private and public operators are the four pillars of the telecom sector who must work in tandem to reach the desired goal.

Mr Mittal also said that the regulators need to ensure a level playing field between private and public operators and that the government must acknowledge the role of the private sector in the telecom revolution.

He also said that interconnectivity is a major problem for the operators and penal action must be imposed on those operators by the Government who block connectivity.